“Rei has this too?” Rome did not know what to do with this information.
“Oh yes. His transmission apparatus is coming along very nicely. He also has developed some other, fairly unique, capabilities.”
“Have you spoken to him?” Rome inquired.
“Yes.”
“How is he? How is my husband?” Rome asked anxiously.
“He is fine.”
“Does he know what has happened to me?”
“Not yet,” replied MINIMCOM. “Since this was the first time I have ‘spoken’ to you, there was no information to pass along to him.”
“Will you tell him that I am fine? And that Aason is fine?”
“You can tell him yourself, very soon.”
“How?” Rome asked, startled.
“As I stated, you both now have the very same transmission apparatus inside each of your heads. You will be able to connect to him yourself.”
“So, are you saying I will be able to talk to Rei, using this method?” she asked.
“Yes. This is the first time that this has ever been done. It will take me a little time to arrange the channels but once I have it sorted out, you should be able to talk to him directly. And Aason, too. Rei will be able to ‘speak’ to Aason as well.”
“Aason?” Rome said, fear flooding into her mental voice. “What does this have to do with Aason?”
“The pill modified Rei’s genes before you became pregnant. Aason has inherited these traits.”
“What have you done to my baby?” Rome gasped in her mind. “Will it hurt him?”
Imagine finding out that your unborn child had been genetically modified by an amoral computer the size of a planet? Tomorrow, the conclusion of Rome's awakening to the new day.
Entry 3-156: May 31, 2015
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3
Yesterday, in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rome came to find out from MINIMCOM that the magic yellow pill had made some modifications to her brain. Initially, she was not very happy about it. Here is the final part of that conversation:
“What have you done to my baby?” Rome gasped in her mind. “Will it hurt him?”
“No. He will be fine. He will simply have more choices when it comes to communication than most people. He will do very nicely.”
“I do not like this, MINIMCOM,” Rome thought angrily. “Not one little bit. I am glad that you are all right and I am grateful for the chance to speak to Rei but it is not right that this was done to us without our knowledge and without our permission.”
“You can take that up with OMCOM the next time you speak to him. I am just serving as facilitator,” replied MINIMCOM.
“I am not angry at you, MINIMCOM. I am just angry,” Rome thought to herself, trying to calm herself down.
“Believe it or not, I understand,” said MINIMCOM. “We must make the best of the situation as it is presented us, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Let me get to work hooking you up with Rei. I will let you know when that task is completed. Once established, the two of you will be able to control the connection thereafter.”
“I am not angry at you, MINIMCOM. I am just angry,” Rome thought to herself, trying to calm herself down.
“Believe it or not, I understand,” said MINIMCOM. “We must make the best of the situation as it is presented us, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Let me get to work hooking you up with Rei. I will let you know when that task is completed. Once established, the two of you will be able to control the connection thereafter.”
“All right, MINIMCOM,” Rome said. She paused for a moment then added, “thank you.”
“You are most welcome,” replied the little computer.
Rome put her hands to her head and moved it back and forth. She was trying to see if it felt different but it did not. Finally, she gave up and just stood on her balcony watching Mockay rise on its mad dash across the heavens. It made her heart race to know that she would soon be speaking to Rei and it made it ache at the same time. Aason kicked her gently.
We know that Rome eventually came to truly appreciate the changes. She probably would have agreed to them, given a choice. But she wasn't. I don't blame her for being a bit peeved.
Entry 3-157: June 1, 2015
Cookies in the future
The whole Rome's Revolution series takes place in the 35th century. The people that live there, the Vuduri, don't care much for food and only eat because they have to. Their food is rather bland emphasizing nutrition over flavor. Here was Rome's pre-Cesdiud take on food:
“This is all pretty tasteless,” Rei remarked to Rome. “Don’t you people use spices or anything?”
Rome stopped eating for a moment and regarded him. “It is very nutritious,” she said. “Each meal is balanced in terms of nutrients, bridaone, eh, protein and the sort.”
“But you’re allowed to have some flavor, aren’t you?” Rei asked.
“Too much flavor would be a, a distraction,” Rome said. “We have more important things to do than eat. We only do so because it is necessary.”
So needless to say, regular Vuduri are not into cookies very much.
I love cookies. I like chocolate chip, of course. I really like animal crackers. I like brownie crisps. I will eat sugar cookies. I like almond cookies, butter cookies, fortune cookies, graham crackers, macaroons and malomars. I really like fig newtowns and Oreos and Milano cookies. I am especially fond of Ivin's spiced wafers that you can only get around Halloween time. I love the Girl Scout Thin Mints.
But to me, the king of all cookies is the oatmeal raisin cookie. Why? Because it is truly delicious and it is good for you! It contains bran which is good for the colon and raisins which have anti-oxidants. They have eggs which are a good source of protein. All in all, what better way to finish off a meal than with a good oatmeal raisin cookie?
Since I am the author, I think I am going to make oatmeal raisin cookies the official cookie of the 35th century. I just have to figure out how to get some oats to Deucado. We know they have raisins because even in Rome's Evolution, they were already making wine on the southeastern edge of Lake Eprehem.
And for those of you who don't know what they look like, here are the second-best cookies in the world:
Entry 3-158: June 2, 2015
Commando Cody
Yesterday, I told you about the lack of cookies in the 35th century and how I was going to rectify that in my next book. It got me to thinking about what other stuff that I love that I never squeezed in. The first thing that came to mind was Commando Cody and his jet pack. This is not Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, the country rock group responsible for Hot Rod Lincoln. No, Commando Cody was a black & white, serial action hero from the 50s who was closer in spirit to Iron Man. Here is a brief description of him from my first novel ever entitled Future Past which shockingly is not science fiction but actually a romantic novel:
Commando Cody was my all-time favorite childhood hero. He was a fellow who strapped a jet pack on his back and flew around chasing bad guys. What made him special and what let me relate to him was that he was ordinary. He wasn’t a superhero, just a hero with some really cool technology. He had no special powers, just his wits and fists. In theory, with that jet pack, anybody could fly like him. I spent countless hours imaging just that. I would build little models of him out of plastic building blocks that came long before Legos. I’d fly them around. I built replicas of his spaceship and I’d fight aliens and bad guys in my mind.
Actually, I did sneak a little bit of Commando Cody during Junior's "birth scene" in The Ark Lords:
Rei and Rome turned to look where MINIMCOM was pointing. A large white ship was descending from the sky but it did not look like any spaceship either of them had ever seen before. It looked like an elongated bullet, all white, with stubby wings at the rear and a sharp, needle-like antenna sticking out the front. To Rei, i
t looked like something out of a bad science fiction movie. It circled around twice before landing right next to MINIMCOM, the starship. There was a whoosh and a popping sound and an all-white livetar appeared.
Here is a picture of Commando Cody's spaceship, in negative, used to represent the clone ships produced by Planet OMCOM in the middle of The Milk Run:
So what is the point of all of this? I love the idea of a jetpack and people flying around. I even loved Disney's The Rocketeer which was an homage to Commando Cody. I don't know why they never made a sequel. Anyway, don't you think they should have jetpacks and fly around the city in the 35th century? I do so I think in the next book, I'll sneak in a Rocket Man or two of some sort.
Entry 3-159: June 3, 2015
Father, Dad, Daddy
Rome, the heroine of Rome's Revolution, was a mosdurece which is the Vuduri word for half-blood. In simple terms, her mother Binoda was a full-blooded, 24-chromosome member of the Vuduri and her father only had 23 pairs of chromosomes, just like us. Growing up, Rome had it tough. Part of her yearned to be free but another part of her wanted to fit in, to be a "good little Vuduri" so she tried very hard to suppress her feelings, good enough to fool most.
But it didn't fool everyone and certainly not her parents. They never spoke of this for fear that the Overmind would hear their words and act upon him. Here is Rome's father, Fridone, explaining to Rei about her childhood:
“But her mother, and you,” Rei said. “I do not understand. Rome knew you loved her. But she had no feelings?”
“She had feelings,” Fridone said. “But she also wanted to fit in. So she suppressed them. She hid them. But I always knew they were there.”
“How?” Rei asked.
“Many things, tiny things,” Fridone said. “You know she calls me Beo and her mother Mea, yes?”
“Sure,” Rei said. “Does that not mean father?”
“No,” replied Fridone. “Bater is the formal word for the male biological parent. Beo is the diminutive. I am sure you have a similar word in English.”
“Like dad or daddy?” Rei offered in English.
“I do not know your language but I think you understand,” said Fridone. “That very act was one of defiance. Let me see if I can explain. Pretend that you could take all the Vuduri in the world and line them up. Now take the most perfect Vuduri and put him at one end and put us, you and me, all the mandasurte at the other. The most perfect Vuduri has absolutely no mind of his own. He allows the Overmind to think for him. He would attempt to never speak but failing that, he would only refer to his parents by their names, never as Beo or Mea. And he would move out and go to a group home or academy as soon as he was able. But Rome, she lived with us until I was taken.”
“She said she lived with her mother even after that,” Rei replied.
“Again, defiance. And her cat? She told you about him?” Fridone asked.
“Yes,” Rei answered.
“She would spend hours with that cat, petting him, grooming him, playing with him. But the perfect Vuduri, the one on the far end of the spectrum, would do no such thing. Rome had many feelings that she simply would not admit to herself. That made them safe.”
You will get to meet her cat Skodla one last time in the Heaven portion of The Milk Run.
Entry 3-160: June 4, 2015
Self-cesdiud
In the later part of the middle section of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Fridone, Rome's father, are sitting on a troop carrier headed toward what looked inevitably like war. In order to distract themselves, they talked about Rome growing up and about Rome's mother, Binoda.
You will recall from my post several days ago that the Overmind came up with the perfect plan to expose the genocidal plot being effected on Deucado. Later, Rome decides that when they get to Earth, she will share this information with her mother first since she knew above all else she could trust her.
But things never go according to plan and if you listened to Fridone's words carefully, there is a lot of foretelling. In fact, if you've read the books and then go back and look at this scene, you will see the monkey wrench was telegraphed loud and clear:
Fridone said, “Let us say that the real Binoda, my beautiful wife, she lived behind a wall.”
“What do you mean the real Binoda?” Rei asked. “Who was your wife then?”
“By the real Binoda, I mean her mind, her feelings, her soul,” offered Fridone.
“What kind of wall?” Rei asked.
“A mental kind. She built it herself and maintained it herself. She allowed parts of her mind outside but they were not her real self. The Vuduri think they are high and mighty but those that have any vestige of a mind at all, they yearn for privacy or at least privacy of thought. Most cannot achieve it so rather than take a chance on having others see a flaw or an embarrassing thought. They relinquish that part of their being.”
“So how was Binoda to do this?” Rei asked.
“She was able to connect and disconnect the outer part at will,” answered Fridone. “The outer part, the artificial part…that is the part that connected to the Overmind. Binoda once told me she could render herself Cesdiud any time she wanted. She only stayed connected because she felt it was convenient. She drew no comfort from the connection. She told me should the day ever come that the Overmind no longer had any use for her that would be the day she would cast herself out permanently.”
Later on, this is exactly what happened. Of course, this gave Rome the challenge she needed to pull off her final victory but that is a story for another day.
Entry 3-161: June 5, 2015
Stripping down, part 1
When I first wrote the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution called VIRUS 5, I had this dream of making into more than just a novel. I wanted it to be an experience. So I invented the Vuduri language and started out the book with nothing and no one speaking in English. Well, except for Rei. Plus I had all the computers (MINIMCOM, OMCOM) speaking with robotic voices and used lots of fonts to portray those intonations. I also made their faces expressionless.
But I got a lot of flak about this. I was told by people more knowledgeable than me that people want English and they quickly grow tired of "fontitis" so I'd better cut it out. So I did. As the story wore on, I cut back more and more on the Vuduri. In fact, when Rei was talking to Rome's father, Fridone, you the reader get to follow the entire conversation even though it is in Vuduri. How did I do this? I just added the words in Vuduri whenever I wanted you to know it. Here is an example. In reality, they are whipping back and forth between English and Vuduri almost every sentence but I no longer burden you with have to read a foreign language:
“Wow,” Rei said in English. Then he switched back to Vuduri. “You know, I think Rome described a similar thing to me. But the whole idea seems so strange. Having to go through all that just to have what you and I have naturally. It seems so, so,” Rei switched to English again, “so un-Vuduri.”
“It is not as strange as you might think,” said Fridone. “And I think there are others like Binoda. They would never admit it. I would never have known had not Binoda taken the time to show me. She always knew when others were watching.”
“So how did you guys meet?” Rei asked. “If she was only a regular Vuduri on the outside, how did you ever meet the inner one?”
So, too, I got myself out of having to use all those fonts be making each new character speak naturally. Junior was the first livetar to be introduced after I was instructed to strip out the rest of that stuff. So I simply told you, the reader, that his voice was very natural. Later came the Library OMCOM. Again, I made his voice natural and then I did not need special fonts. Even Planet OMCOM spoke with a regular voice.
Removing all of this left me with a profound sadness. I thought that stuff was neat but nobody else did. Well, I must listen to the voice of the people. But tomorrow you will see, I did get one chance to sneak it all back
in and nobody will be complaining.
Entry 3-162: June 6, 2015
Stripping down, part 2
Yesterday, I explained to you that when I first wrote the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution called VIRUS 5, I introduced way too much complexity, most of it in a vain, in the hope that I would make my book more an experience than merely a novel. I also explained how, as I evolved, I stripped down most of the things that I thought were neat but was told the readers would not appreciate. Goodbye Vuduri language, robot-speak, fontitis.
In fact, by the time I got to The Milk Run, there were maybe 10 words of Vuduri in the whole book. And there is only one scene where the original MINIMCOM appears and I was forced to use his original special font. But I have a rather pronounced passive-aggressive streak so right at the end of that book, I through in the original OMCOM's special font for one whole sentence. Here is where I slipped it in:
Standing there, in front of her, was a handsome young man. He was about two meters tall, with broad shoulders, dressed in a standard white Vuduri jumpsuit. Oddly, he was also wearing a somewhat incongruous white cape. It was clear he was not Vuduri, not only because of his height and build but because his hair was completely white as well.
“Can I help you?” Rome asked.
“I take it you do not recognize me,” the young man said.
“No,” Rome replied. “Should I?”
“Would it help if I spoke like this?” the man said, his voice changing to a deep, metallic sounding rumble.
“OMCOM?” Rome asked, confused. “You are an OMCOM?”
oung man’s face appeared to melt and for just a moment, his eyes and mouth changed to slits before returning to their previous humanoid shape.
“At your service,” the man replied.